The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database

Subject: Vietnam-Era Unaccounted for Statistical Report

1. BACKGROUND: The Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters
Service, and the Department of State report the current numbers
of Americans who are unaccounted for in Southeast Asia:

Figure 1 AMERICANS UNACCOUNTED FOR IN SOUTHEAST ASIACOMPONENTCOUNTRY
OF LOSS

NORTH
VIETNAM

SOUTH
VIETNAM

LAOS

CAMBODIA

CHINA

TOTALS

ARMY

10

503

110

36

0

659

NAVY

289

93

31

2

8

423

MARINE
CORPS

31

205

22

14

0

272

AIR FORCE

251

178

279

19

0

727

COAST
GUARD

0

1

0

0

0

1

CIVILIANS

0

23

13

5

0

41

TOTALS

581

1003

455

76

8

2123*

* INCLUDES 468 AT SEA/OVER WATER LOSSES

2. U.S. GOVERNMENT EFFORTS: Since the fall of Saigon in 1975,
the U.S. Government has acquired 20050 reports pertaining to
Americans in Southeast Asia:

Figure 2 SUMMARY OF REPORTS

FIRSTHAND LIVE SIGHTINGS

1856

HEARSAY SIGHTINGS REPORTS

4245

CRASH/GRAVESITES

4778

DOGTAGS

9171

TOTAL

20050

a. Of the 1856 firsthand reports received since 1975, 1782(96%)
reports are resolved.

-- 1250(67%) reports were equated to Americans
who are accounted for (i.e., PW returnees, missionaries, civilians
jailed at various times for violation of Vietnamese codes).
-- 45(3%) reports were correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel
or pre-1975 sighting of civilians who remain unaccounted for.
-- 487(26%) reports were determined to be fabrications.

b. The remaining 73(4%) unresolved firsthand reports represent
the focus of the U.S. Government's analytical and collection efforts:

-- 61(3%) pertain to Americans reported in
a captive environment.
-- 12(1%) reported sightings of Americans in a non-captive environment (i.e.
working as truck drivers; married with a Vietnamese family).

c. The following timeline presents an overview of unresolved firsthand
sightings by the year of the sighting:

Figure 3. TIMELINE: UNRESOLVED LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS

Pre-76

76-80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

54

8

0

0

0

1

0

1

1

2

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

Total

0

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

0

73

3. ACCOUNTING FOR U.S. PERSONNEL: The Central Identification
Laboratory, Hawaii, reports that since 1973, the U.S. has accounted
for 460 Americans from Southeast Asia.

Figure 4 AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR POST-1973

VIETNAM

342*

CHINA

2**

LAOS

111

CAMBODIA

5

TOTAL

460***

NOTES:
* 31 remains from the Official Died in Captivity
Lists provided by the Vietnamese in 1973
** 2 ashes returned from China
*** 4 remains were recovered and turned over to the U.S. by indigenous
personnel; 1 from North Vietnam and 3 from Laos. They are included in the country
count.